Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Isaiah 40,26-31. Quasimodogeniti

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Isaiah 40,26-31. Quasimodogeniti

Isaiah 40,26-31 2920

Quasimodogeniti 036

Timon, one of the 7 deacons at Jerusalem. Acts 6,5

Olavus Petri, Pastor and Reformer in Sweden, ✠ 1552

Laurentius Petri, Reformer, Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden, ✠ 1573

19. April 2020

1. Help us, our Risen Savior, so that we may keep what we have and that no one may take from us a crown that we even now possess in believing hope. Let nothing, neither death nor life, neither angels, principalities nor powers, ever separate us from Your love, fellowship and our union with You. Amen. (Starck 87 ¶ 1)

2. »Lift up your eyes on high and behold: who created these? He who brings forth their cosmic host by number, He will call them all by name; by the great glory and in might of strength of His might, not one is missing. Why should you continually say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: „My way is concealed from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God“? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not hunger or grow weary; His intelligence is unsearchable. He gives strength to those hungering, and to those grieving He removes their sadness. For young men crave and will grow weary, and elect men will be without strength; but those waiting upon the Lord will renew their strength; they mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and will not grow weary; they will walk and will not hunger.«

3. Last week we heard the gospel: Jesus is risen! Alleluia! Today we hear how on the evening of Easter Sunday Jesus showed His disciples His hands and side.

4. The disciples were hiding; they had gathered together and locked the door. They were afraid that the same Jews, the Sanhedrin, that ruling council of Jerusalem, would be looking for them, arrest them and have an executed as followers of Jesus.

5. Jesus appeared to them to remove their fear. The Prophet Isaiah speaks about this. The Lord give power to the faint and the weak. The disciples certainly fit that description. After Jesus had been arrested early Friday morning, they had scattered in fear. Only John, Mary Magdalene and Jesus’ mother drew courage to behold Jesus crucified.

6. John’s account makes it absolutely clear: The risen Jesus has a physical body. The disciples do not see a ghost, a spirit, a delusion or a vision; they behold a risen Jesus with a physical body: the marks of His crucifixion are still visible on His hands and side. Thomas, however, was not there, and he demands to see Jesus’ hands and side. He will not believe the testimony of his fellow apostles. Thomas wants to see and hear Jesus with his own eyes and ears. A week later Thomas himself saw and heard the risen Jesus; he confessed his faith in the risen Christ. The words of Isaiah speak to Thomas: »They who wait for Yahweh renew their strength.«

7. We are not Thomas, nor are we apostles. It is not our prerogative to demand to see the risen Jesus with our eyes or hear Him with our ears. The Scriptures tell us the last person to have that experience was Paul, several years after Jesus’ ascension, and it occurred because Jesus called him to be an apostle; to the apostles it is necessary for their gospel testimony that they had seen and heard the risen Jesus.

8. Jesus told Thomas: »Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe« (John 20,29). You and I are numbered among the Christians spanning 2000 years who believe in Jesus on account of the testimony of someone else. Our faith is an apostolic faith because it is grounded upon the preaching of the apostles with Christ as the Cornerstone. The testimony of the apostles is found in the pages of the 27 books of the New Testament. The apostles who had heard and had seen Jesus physically risen proclaim to us that which they heard and saw. Only 3 of those 27 books are written by men who were not apostles: Mark, Luke and Acts. Mark was a disciple of the Apostle Peter and his Gospel is based on what he heard Peter preach in Rome. Luke was a disciple of the Apostle Paul and his Gospel and the book of Acts are largely based on his discussions with other disciples who were with Jesus, and what Paul preached on his missionary journeys. The New Testament contains those things which the apostles want us to know and believe; its central theme is the suffering, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

9. The Holy Spirit uses these written words of the apostles to create and strengthen faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit also uses the Sacraments Jesus has given His Church, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to create and sustain faith. The Apostle Paul proclaims: »Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ« (Romans 10,17). The Holy Spirit uses the proclaimed words of the apostles, evangelists, bishops and pastors, even fellow Christians and parents, to create faith. Jesus told His apostles to: »Make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching them« (Matthew 28,19-20). Yahweh has given us a rich and diverse witness of Christ Jesus that has been passed down to us generation after generation, century after century; one of our Christian duties is to do the same for those who come after us.

10. The gospel we believe is simply this:

A. Jesus Christ crucified for our sins,

B. He was buried

C. and He was raised on the 3. day (1. Corinthians 15,3-4).

By His death and resurrection, Jesus has swallowed up Death in His victory and removed the sting of Death. »The sting of Death is sin, and the power of Sin is the law.« God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ over Death, Sin and the law (1. Corinthians 15,54-57). Jesus gives us strength; we mount up with wings like eagles; we run and are not weary; we walk and do not faint. Jesus has conquered and He blesses us with both physical and spiritual endurance to overcome the trials and tribulations of this world. And if, like Thomas, you missed Jesus, or if you’re in despair, then fear not, for Jesus does not forsake you; He will seek you out again and find you; His Word and Sacraments will deliver to you the Jesus who was crucified and risen. Believe in Jesus; He will see you through it.

9. Today we have heard that on the evening of Easter Sunday Jesus showed His disciples His hands and side. Next week we will hear Jesus proclaim: »I am the Good Shepherd who lay down His life for His sheep.« Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You do great things for us; focus our eyes and ears to Your risen body, so that we are comforted that You triump over sin, sickness, death and the grave. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Isaiah 40,26-31. Quasimodogeniti

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